Distribution and abundance of luminous bacteria with special reference to shrimp farming activities

Authors:

Abraham, T. JawaharShanmugam, S.A.Palaniappan, R.Dhevendaran, K.

Keywords:

Farm effluentluminous bacteriashrimp farmingVibrio harveyi

Issue Date:

Sep-2003

Publisher:

CSIR

Abstract:

Quantitative and qualitative distribution of planktonic luminous bacteria in aquaculturally affected region of Tuticorin Bay, along southeast coast of India was studied. Luminous bacterial abundance ranging from 20 to 1050 cells/ml in nearshore seawater and 100 to 8,150 cells/g inshore sediment were recorded. A significant positive correlation was observed between the luminous bacterial counts and total viable counts of seawater in areas having intensive shrimp farming activities. Five different species of luminous bacteria namely Vibrio fischeri, V. harveyi, V.orientalis, V. splendidus biotype 1 and Photobacterium leiognathi were identified during this study with V. harveyi as the dominant species, comprising ≥82-97% of the total luminous population. These results suggest that intensive shrimp farming which largely contributed to luminous bacterial population strongly influences the distribution of planktonic luminous bacteria in nearshore seawater and probably alters the balance of autochthonous microflora in areas affected by shrimp farming.

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